While we lay sprawled across the couch, resting from the awful day, Al shifted and glanced over at Mahya. “What did you learn?”
Mahya sat up straighter, her braid slipping over her shoulder as she leaned forward. “Quite a lot of interesting things,” she said. “First, this isn't an asteroid—it’s a moon. The habitat’s inside it. And it doesn’t end there. This moon orbits a planet called Marduk. It has seven moons plus an asteroid belt around it. Out of those, five moons ...
2025-03-24 22:34:51 +0000 UTC
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Thank the Spirits, the next Gate was relatively close. It took us only four days to reach it, and we even had clearings to land every evening. You don’t appreciate something until it’s gone. After three days of needing to pee and being unable to land anywhere, I developed a whole new level of appreciation for forest clearings.
Mahya touched the Gate and immediately looked confused, her forehead scrunched up and mouth hanging open in a silent “wha?”
Al touched it n...
2025-03-23 22:39:59 +0000 UTC
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In the morning, we headed to the Gate.
Travelers gate #66562852
Destination: Sahunu
Status: Integrated
Mana Level: 47
Threat Level: Moderate
“Finally,” Mahya said, smiling. “A good mana level. Not that boring low mana.”
She crossed first, Al and Rue right behind. I was just about to cross when Rue slammed into me, nearly knocking me sideways as he b...
2025-03-22 14:12:55 +0000 UTC
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The trip to the next Gate took nearly a month, and it wasn’t without its challenges. The Map made it clear that the continent we were on was huge, but only crossing it drove the point home. Even with the wind boosting our speed, a balloon wasn’t a plane. The slow pace was frustrating. If the next few Gates weren’t viable, we’d be stuck here for another winter, and that was not an appealing thought.
We flew above more than thirty cities, their numbers increasing toward the contin...
2025-03-20 17:11:14 +0000 UTC
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They went to clear dungeons while I headed to the city for something else. I needed to advance my earth element and had an idea just before falling asleep. Before improving your influence over something, you have to understand it, to really know it. And here I was, in an abandoned city built from all kinds of materials that came from the earth. What could be better?
I found a relatively intact building, or at least as intact as anything could be in this abandoned city. It had once been ...
2025-03-19 13:53:15 +0000 UTC
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We flew over the ruined city in the morning to get an idea of what we had to work with. Surprisingly, there was only one type of monster, and not that many of them. Every few streets, we spotted another one lumbering along. From the air, they looked ursine, with broad bodies, but each had a long, straight horn in the middle of its forehead, like a unicorn.
“I don’t think we should use scrolls,” I said, eyeing the scattered monsters below. “There aren’t many of them, and they...
2025-03-18 19:12:28 +0000 UTC
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Morning sunlight streamed through the kitchen window as I flipped a cheesy omelet in the pan, the scent of sizzling butter and melted cheese filling the air. The rhythmic scrape of the spatula was the only sound until Mahya and Al slunk down the stairs, looking like a pair of kicked puppies.
Mahya hugged her arms, her braids swinging as she stared at the floor. Al shoved his hands deep into his pockets, avoiding my gaze like a kid caught stealing cookies.
I raised an eyebrow, lett...
2025-03-17 11:15:26 +0000 UTC
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The next set of Gates was relatively far. Unlike clusters where multiple Gates were close together, potentially leading to the same world, these were more or less aligned along the same latitude, stretching from one end of the continent to the other. There were seven Gates in total that we planned to check. After weighing our options, we decided to head northwest first. The Gates near the continent’s center were technically closer, but flying there first would mean turning westward and then...
2025-03-16 16:14:04 +0000 UTC
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Malith Drex Var was frantic, pacing in tight circles as his mind scrambled for a solution. He didn’t know what to do. Banging his head on the counter hadn’t helped, though it had made a satisfying thunk. Drinking quork ferment hadn’t helped either. Well, technically, it had, since it was delicious, but that was beside the point. The problem still loomed, unresolved, and growing heavier by the day. His time was running out, and the more he panicked, the less his brain seemed wil...
2025-03-15 17:16:00 +0000 UTC
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The balloon drifted upward, the morning air crisp against my face as New Sanctuary shrank below us. Buildings turned to toy-like structures, roads to faint lines, until the city became a patchwork of colors against the landscape. The four of us leaned over the edge of the basket, taking in a last glimpse of the place that meant more to us than any other we’d visited so far.
Mahya’s voice broke the quiet. “Are you sad we’re leaving?” She tilted her head, watching me closely.
2025-03-12 17:21:33 +0000 UTC
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Mahya and Al set out to clear the three dungeons in the ruined city near the original Sanctuary, hunting for crystals. I still needed them to craft the larger ones for the balloon gizmos. Mahya had already built two, but with New Sanctuary now operating five balloons and planning three more, the demand kept rising.
Rue promptly opted out when he heard one contained plants—poisonous ones, at that. Instead, he stuck around, keeping me company while I worked through the last of the books...
2025-03-12 09:08:22 +0000 UTC
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I sat on the keep’s roof, watching the movement below. From up here, the people scurrying through the streets looked like ants, each carrying out a task, each moving with purpose. Houses rose at a dizzying pace, beams locking into place, walls climbing higher with every passing day. In the fields beyond the city, workers moved in steady rhythm, tending, harvesting, building a future with their hands.
A slow warmth settled in my chest. We created this. We helped make this happen.
2025-03-11 13:35:12 +0000 UTC
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My flight to Zarad was miserable. I’d left under clear skies, but an hour in, the rain caught up with me. Further south, it turned to hail—not the murderous kind, just small, stinging pellets, but enough to make the trip thoroughly unpleasant. By the time I reached the city, I was battered, bruised, and in a really foul mood.
Zarad hadn’t changed. Sandstone houses with domed roofs stretched across the landscape, their warm tones contrasting with the shimmering canals...
2025-03-11 12:36:03 +0000 UTC
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Finally, there were signs of spring. The torrential rain, which sometimes poured for days without a break, remained an annoyance, but the explosion of new flowers everywhere made up for it. More importantly, it meant that soon, the south would be free of those damned hail balls. We were ready to move on—just a few last tasks to wrap up before we left.
Al’s apprentices had reached the point where they no longer needed constant supervision, and Mahya’s woodworkers had also gained en...
2025-03-11 10:21:59 +0000 UTC
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When I arrived at the clinic in the morning, a burly man stood near the entrance, his arms crossed over his broad chest. Rima sat at one table, fidgeting and keeping a wary eye on him.
Remembering that Mahya had given her a Telepathy scroll, I reached out mentally. “Why do you look worried? Did he do something?”
She looked at him with narrow eyes. “No. But he looks healthy—what’s he doing here?”
“He’s here for me.”
2025-03-06 14:41:14 +0000 UTC
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Author's Note
Another chapter to make up for yesterday—thanks for understanding! My son had a great time on his fun day.
>>>>>>>>>
It took me a couple of days to get back to normal—or as normal as I could manage after such a strange negotiation/argument with the system. Mahya and Al asked several times what happened, but I brushed them off with a vague “Just trouble with a project.” And no, I didn’t need help—just peace and quiet to fig...
2025-03-05 13:44:38 +0000 UTC
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Feeding the castle to my core took four days. The initial heaps of rubble were quickly removed, but when the structure collapsed, the lower walls stubbornly remained intact, along with the foundations. Still, it was much faster than the last time, though I had hoped for a better result. There had to be a way to bring down an entire building in one go.
During the days, I experimented with the tiftaf plant in Al’s greenhouse. Unfortunately, I learned nothing new for the farmers—Fl...
2025-03-05 09:43:03 +0000 UTC
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A thin carpet of snow greeted me as I stepped outside that morning, and I stopped short. Right—my wanderlust had kicked in, but it hadn’t taken into account the approaching winter. Not that it mattered with everything on my to-do list.
Hm. The hail, though—that might be a problem when bringing the slaves from Zarad.
All thoughts of my to-do list vanished the moment I registered the cold. Not that the cold itself was an issue—every time my Constitution increased, I...
2025-03-03 19:39:23 +0000 UTC
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Perched at the highest point of the keep, I watched the hive of activity below, a constant flow of movement like an anthill in overdrive. Over the past week, Mahya had been making four to five runs a day, ferrying people across, and the first two hot air balloons crafted in New Sanctuary had joined the relocation efforts. Together, they transferred more than a hundred people daily.
We still pitched in with material transfers using our Storages—especially Al. He loved flying on the swo...
2025-03-02 16:14:45 +0000 UTC
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Morning light cast long shadows over the keep—no, New Sanctuary. The new name still felt unfamiliar, but I had to get used to it.
Descending in a quiet courtyard, I turned visible hidden by a stone archway. The place bustled with movement, workers reinforcing walls and couriers hurrying between buildings. I went searching for Roda’s office, weaving through the crowd. It took ten minutes and a few wrong turns, but eventually, I found her.
The moment I stepped inside, Roda lit u...
2025-02-27 19:25:41 +0000 UTC
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I could feel the core in the keep and guessed Mahya was the “carrier" since I felt her in the same area. Al was there too, but further away from her. However, before meeting with them, I wanted to see Sanctuary and learn about what had happened there.
It had changed.
The two outer rings of the palisade were gone, stripped away along with the fields, leaving only bare earth where crops once grew. The cattle remained, though—not in the safety of a palisade, but in a fenced enclo...
2025-02-26 15:50:12 +0000 UTC
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I stepped through the Gate back to Zindor and lasted three seconds before hurling myself back to Lumis, unleashing a string of curses a minute long.
Maybe I’m spending too much time around Mahya.
In those three measly seconds, two ice boulders—because calling them hailstones would be an insult to reality—slammed into my skull with a thunk, while a few more pummeled the rest of me for good measure. By my calculations, it was still supposed to be autumn,...
2025-02-25 18:10:54 +0000 UTC
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I dropped everything I’d taken from the palace at the distribution warehouse and scattered the overflow around it—it wasn’t nearly big enough to hold everything. After that, I transferred all the food from my Storage into Mahya’s and Al’s to free up space, while the items we wanted to keep went into the storage halls of my house. I only kept the boxes of coins we’d collected from the palace and my usual personal things.
As payback for sending me on this errand without asking...
2025-02-24 08:41:34 +0000 UTC
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Once my core started absorbing the loose stones, I wished I had demolished the palace sooner. Nibbling at the walls before had been a slow and tedious process—pressing the core against each stone, waiting for it to be absorbed enough to be released from the mortar joints before moving on to the next. It forced me into awkward progress, circling the walls, picking them apart one agonizing piece at a time.
Loose stones were a different story. I tossed my core onto a pile, and it sucked ...
2025-02-23 09:52:32 +0000 UTC
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Six weeks into my castle-munching, the place was mostly gone—just an empty shell with only the outer walls still standing. A few guards were still posted around, but their numbers had dwindled. On the first nights after the ruler vacated the palace, at least thirty stood watch around the perimeter. Now? Four. One at each corner.
I wasn’t keen on flying in circles to strip the last walls bit by bit, so I took care of the guards first. The potion put them to sleep, and I carried them ...
2025-02-20 11:57:25 +0000 UTC
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The morning after the rescue, two familiar idiots stomped in, faces red and puffed up with righteous anger.
One of them jabbed a finger at me. “You drugged us!” he shouted. “What gives you the right—”
“Eight hours! Eight cursed hours!” the other one barked, voice cracking halfway through. “We could’ve died!”
Then the taller one decided he was gonna make a point with his fists.
Bad call.
He barely got his arm up before I stepped forward and bur...
2025-02-19 15:22:05 +0000 UTC
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A crowd waited for me when I returned to my clinic after my day off. Well, not exactly a crowd—only four people—but they felt like a crowd. Roda stood stiffly, arms crossed, her gaze sharp as ever. Lady Myrtus clutched the folds of her dress, lips pressed into a thin line. The two prisoners from the dungeon—Topash and Rom—shifted their weight, tension radiating from them. Their presence wasn’t overwhelming in numbers, but in intensity. They weren’t here for treatment...
2025-02-18 16:20:22 +0000 UTC
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Adjusting the IV bag, I checked the slow drip, injected a healing potion into the bag, and watched the liquid snake down the tube into the patient’s arm. The room smelled of sweat and sickness that clung to the air like a damp cloth.
Al strode over. “Please open the house; I need equipment from my lab.”
I located a wall invisible from the outside and opened the house against it. The moment the door solidified, Al disappeared inside.
When he returned, the sharp scent of...
2025-02-17 10:01:42 +0000 UTC
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Mahya counted the cores, her fingers moving with reverence as she tallied each one. She gave the box one last loving stroke with a satisfied nod, sighing like a mother parting with a beloved child. Then, she stored it away in one fluid motion, sprang to her feet, and grabbed me in a sudden twirl.
I barely had time to register what was happening before she locked me in a waltzing pose, spinning me across the room like we were at some grand ball. Her eyes glazed over in a dreamy expressio...
2025-02-16 13:30:50 +0000 UTC
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When I finally reached our building, the gang was waiting outside. Mahya tapped her foot against the ground, impatience radiating off her like heat from a forge. Al leaned back on his elbows, watching the street. Meanwhile, Rue had turned the delay into an opportunity, shoving his massive head under Mahya’s hand, demanding ear scratches with single-minded persistence.
The moment she saw me, her hand stilled. Rue huffed and immediately nudged her fingers, insistent. When ...
2025-02-13 16:37:50 +0000 UTC
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